In an article written for
the Johnson County Historical society, W. J. Thom, former state senator
from that county, and at one time vice-president of the First National
Bank of Buffalo, tells interestingly of the early days of that part of
Wyoming and deals intimately with the history of many of the pioneers. His
article follows:

Not having access to many
printed records, I have depended largely on my recollections, necessarily
faulty and fragmentary, for facts since '83, and upon hearsay entirely for
anything prior to that date.

In casting back to that
far distant time, I find the impression strong in my mind that the first
active, or rather aggressive business men were the road agents, for it was
at about the beginning of things that they hung Jeff Foster on his ranch
on Piney where George Geier now lives, in an effort to make him disgorge
his hidden wealth.

Finally Dies Here

They were not very good
hangers, however, for Foster survived to finally die in Sheridan only a
few years ago. So they failed on the hanging, but as to whether they
secured the "hidden wealth" I am not informed. However, if they made him
give up any considerable amount, it was more than any of us, who knew him
later, ever succeeded in doing.

It was at about the
beginning of things, too, that the James boys were with us for a season
and I believe one of their crowd, Cummings by name, had a shoe shop in
Buffalo for a short time.

You know the original
reason for Buffalo's being was Fort McKinney. Some way must be provided to
help the doughboys get rid of their surplus savings and Buffalo was it.

Consequently, the next
most important industry was the saloon. I think there were 19 or 20 when I
came here. At one time the entire section from the present site of the
Johnson County bank to the First National was almost entirely occupied by
saloons, and there was one where Van Dyke's store now is, one on the site
of the old picture show building, one where the bakery now is, one where
the Buffalo Tent & Awning company is, and even one in exclusive North
Buffalo, opposite the red barn.

There were a number of
other places in Buffalo where liquor was sold and even the drug stores
would not turn you away thirsty. Do you wonder that my recollections of
Buffalo are of the saloons as the principal places of business?

First Influx of Whites

As a matter of fact, the
first influx of white men aside from soldiers and emigrants over the
Bozeman Trail and an occasional party of trappers or prospectors came with
the establishment of the Fort McKinney cantonment in 1876 on Powder river,
a few miles above the old Fort Reno, where the Douglas road crosses the
river.

Teamsters, wood choppers,
freighters and mechanics were attracted in considerable numbers and when
the construction of Fort McKinney was begun, still more of this class
arrived and fluctuated between the two localities as their work demanded,
but gradually concentrated more and more near Fort McKinney until its
completion and the transfer of the troops to the new post in 1882, by
which time Buffalo had become a settled and well established community.

Many of the men who were
attracted to the county at the time the cantonment was established or
during the period of the construction of Fort McKinney are personally
known to most of those present. Such for instance, as Jack Ridley of Crazy
Woman, who when the troops arrived in '76 was found trapping on Powder
river.

Dave Cummings, our
prosperous ranchman, who was engaged in hunting and trapping and drifted
in about that time from the Gillette country, I believe, in search of a
fresh supply of grub. Coming into the cantonment, as an absolute stranger,
with some doubts as to the prospect of being able to persuade someone out
of the necessary provisions, he was surprised to meet an old friend in the
person of George Stine who made his sway smooth for him in the matter of
supplies. Cummings finally settled here in '81. Stine is well known to the
older settlers having worked for Conrad at the Suttler's store at Fort
McKinney for some time.

John R. Smith, so long a
residence at Trabing, came at this period.

J. H. McDonald, for many
years a ranchman, and now retired, came first with the troops in '76, and
I believe was a wood hauler for the Government for a time before he
settled down on his ranch.

Dick Richter who located
on Middle Fork of Crazy Woman and whose widow still resides on the ranch
did much of the construction work at the cantonment.

Daniel Mitchell, a saloon
man, city marshal, undertaker, coal dealer, and everybody's friend, was an ambulance driver at the cantonment.

In Wagon Box Fight

Jack Lewis, the sawmill
man, now at the Soldier's Home, can claim even earlier dates, as he was
with the wood train at Fort Phil Kearney, at the time of the wagon box
fight in '67.

Ed Lawrence, recently
deceased, whose ranch on Clear Creek is well known to you, was one of the
wood choppers employed in getting out logs with which to build the new
post.

Cullen Watt, who
afterwards located ranches on Clear Creek, just east of Buffalo and also
at the mouth of Piney, and whose widow still resides on the former, also
worked in the timber,.

So also did Mosher for
whom is named the gulch thru which the Black & Yellow Trail finds an easy
grade to the top of the mountain.

Tom Connolly, whose son
Johnnie, still lives on the Box Elder Ranch, was here in '76.

Al Williams, who lived so
long on Piney, was at the building of the Post [Fort McKinney] also.

To these must be added a
swarm of freighters drawn by the joint demands of the Post and settlers
who were so rapidly opening up a virgin territory. Some of these early
freighters are still in Johnson County, some have left and some have died.
There was John McRae, who soon unyoked his cattle and settled down to
farming and stockraising, and before his death amassed a fortune.

Tommy Haynes, whose home
on Rock Creek, has since his death been converted into a dude ranch by the
new generation in the person of Hon. Frank O. Horton our state
representative.

Frank Sayles whose ranch
on Sayles Creek is now part of the Rothwell Company holdings. John
Spearing who is still a resident of Buffalo. Posey Ryan, of whose later
career the writer is not informed.

Munkres and Mather,
Harvey Allen and John Sonne and Charley Rounds, brother of Jenny Anderson,
were a little later in the field. Of these latter, Munkres and Mather
alone remain with us.

These and many others
were instrumental in opening up our country and from this list you can
gain some faint idea of the colossal task of developing a new country so
far distant from rail transportation.

Lays Out Buffalo Site

At about the date of the
completion of the Post in 1882, Colonel Hart, the commandant, laid out the
town site of Buffalo, and quieted the objections of the townspeople by
deeding one lot to each citizen who had erected a building along the
winding trail that meandered down to the crossing of Clear Creek, and
thence to the north, and this explains the peculiar indirectness of our
Main street today.

At about this time also,
came Edward Burnett, the present owner of the 41 Ranch on Crazy Woman, one
of our largest property owners and most public spirited citizens, and one
time member of the legislature. Also D. A. Kingsbury, founder of the
Kingsbury-Todd Company and a legislator also. W. F. Williams of the Cross
H Cattle Company, and father of Wilbur and John Williams of this county.

M. T. Redman, now a
resident of Buffalo, but former owner of the Redman Ranch on Clear Creek.
Ed Chapline long associated with E. U. Snider, and who married a sister of
Edgar Simmons. Johnnie Phelps, at one time prominent horseman of the
county, but long since dead. Peter McGinnis who was with the Conrad and
Company at the Post.

J. B. Mendardi, civil
engineer, and by whom very many of the earlier ranches and ditches
were surveyed.

An Early Editor

St. Clair O'Malley, who
located on what is now the Jack Ridley Ranch, and also operated a sawmill
on Prairie Dog Creek for a short time. He was also editor of the
Bulletin at one time.

J. H. Hopkins,
Superintendent of the Stage Line from Rock Creek on the U. P. to Custer
Station on the N. P.

Nat Carwile, one of our
earliest county clerks.

John Erhart, father of
Mrs. Wall, and John, Jr., who worked in the mountains principally, for
many years.

John N. Tisdale, and
Richard, and Morton Frewen, and Fred Hesse of Powder River Country, and
Wm. Haywood, of Crazy Woman, in the cattle business. H. P. Rothwell, was
quartermaster clerk at Fort McKinney, and already heavily interested in
live stock and land in the Owl Creek Country at this time.

Billy Keays was building
the Colorado Ditch. Andy Kennedy was running a store on Powder River
Crossing for Robert Foote. Billy Adams was working in Robert Foote's Store
and John King was freighting for Munkres and Mather.

It is evident therefore,
that in reality, the very earliest businessmen were the freighters who
came first with supplies for the Post and later made possible the settling
of the town and county by hauling over the long and weary miles from the
Union Pacific the food stuffs, supplies and materials necessary for a
growing community.

Big Mule Teams

It was an interesting
sight in those days to see the eight, ten, and even twelve mule teams,
with not less than three canvas covered wagons piled to the bows with
groceries, hardware, furniture and supplies. In some cases, oxen were
used, and in some horses, but mules seemed to be the favorite.

Munkres and Mathers'
sleek mule teams with their handsome harness, fine wagons and skillful
drivers were one of the sights of the long trail.

The difficulties
encountered on this long trip of over two hundred miles from bad weather,
bad roads, breakdowns a hundred miles from a blacksmith shop, lost stock,
etc., were almost insurmountable, but the freighter never quit if it was
possible to get thru and many of them made fairly regular trips.

As a sample of these
difficulties, the writer very distinctly remembers buying furniture in
Chicago and St. Louis, which was shipped to Rock Creek (now Rock River) on
the U. P. and loaded out on bull teams in late October. The outfit was
snowed in somewhere north of the Platte and abandoned on the prairie as it
was impossible to work cattle when the grass was buried in snow. There the
covered wagons stood till spring and finally reached Buffalo the following
April with goods intact. How much furniture do you think would be left
today under similar circumstances?

As these goods were
probably all bought on thirty to sixty days datings you can imagine that
the merchant had some worrying to do with his bills falling due and no
goods in sight.

First Store Starts

Probably the first store
in Johnson County and in fact the first in all the distance from Cheyenne
to Buffalo if we except a small one at old Fort Fetterman near where
Douglas now stands, and no doubt a suttlers store at the cantonment, was
the suttlers store at Fort McKinney, established about 1879 by E. U.
Snider, and afterward sold to John H. Conrad.

A little later August
Trabing, seeking the trade of the soldiers, established a store at what is
now the Cross H Ranch and shortly afterward removed it to a better
location on Clear Creek, and erected the building now occupied in part of
Keef's Plumbing Shop.

Trabing shortly sold to
John H. Conrad, and he later disposed of the business to Lobban & Hine,
who went down in the panic of 1893.

Following Trabing came
Robert Foote in '82, and opened a similar general store on ground opposite
the head of Fort Street. This property was burned in '94-95 and the
business discontinued.

The Occidental Hotel
occupied its present site, in a log building which was not much more than
a stage station; McGray and Buell were the proprietors.

In those days, Aaron
Myers and Charley Rounds had a log blacksmith shop on Main Street where
Eschrich's meat market now stands.

Thus began Buffalo, and
as the cattlemen and settlers were flocking into the country, so the town
dwellers were attracted to the town, so that when my first recollections
begins, C. J. Hogerson was established in his shop just north of the
present Pioneer Garage. He later became bank president, county
commissioner, and one of the most prominent figures in the history of our
town.

The postoffice was in a
small building just south of where Keef has his plumbing shop. Frank
Carwile was the postmaster.

Geo. L. Holt had a drug
store on the now vacant corner south of the Johnson County Bank.

Bank's Door "Shot Up"

The First National Bank
(then Stebbins, Conrad & Co.) was where Keefe now is, its front door
already scarred by the erratic bullet of some joyous soul who knew no
other way in which to give vent to the tide of happiness which engulfed
him.

John H. Conrad & Co.,
occupied the balance of the old log building which Trabing had built.

C. P. Organ had a
hardware store where Hoshaw's furniture store now is, and H. A. Bennett
and H. S. Williston were in charge.

Bennett was the first
mayor of Buffalo and built the house in which C. N. Walters now
lives, and to this house the writer brought his bride in 1885 as the guest
of Mrs. Bennett. C. P. Organ will be remembered as the donor of the sweet
toned bell which still calls the members of the Congregational Church to
worship.

At this time, F. D.
Metcalf had shown his faith in the town by erecting a two story building
south of the present site of the First National Bank, originally
Hasbrouck's, but long occupied as a drug store, and now as Mead's Barber
Shop. There was also a millinery store adjoining which was washed into the
middle of Main Street, millinery and all, by the flood of 1911.

There was a frame livery
stable where the brick one now stands which was later burned with no
insurance, and replaced with the present one by subscription of the
citizens, the bulk of the money being raised in a few hours, I believe.

We had a saddler, R. H.
Lynn; a barber, Joe Sharp; and a butcher, Helfchenstein.

R. E. Armstrong had a
jewelry store about where Gatchell's drug store now stands, and was later
succeeded by Ed. Chappell.

R. E. Holbrook was our
dentist and Rokahr and Lothian our shoemakers. Mr. Lothian was the father
of Mrs. Wm. Haynes and Mrs. A. Smith, a prominent Odd Fellow and a much
respected citizen.

Benjamin Hertzman was the
one and only tailor and his sign read "The Bon Ton Merchant Tailoring." He
developed a ranch on Crazy Woman now the property of the Hakerts. He now
resides in Casper and has prospered exceedingly since the discovery of oil
in Natrona County.

Ainslig & Pearson,
painters, advertised that all work would be promptly executed. If they
lived up to their promise, I hope some of our present painters will read
that old advertisement, and resolve to mend their ways.

A Backwoods Artist

But the first painter of
all was Dasterac, who perpetrated the picture of Buffalo, which hangs in
the Library here. I know nothing more of him. His work speaks for itself.

Our restaurant was run by
a Mr. Spang. Ed Curran, Sam Sherrill, Thos. Hutton, Herman Luddecks and
Geo. Bartlett and John Newell were our principal contractors and builders.

Of these, Luddecks and
Newell are still residents of Johnson County, and Bartlett is at the
Soldier's Home.

Harry Holloway, father of
Ed Holloway, had a blacksmith shop in north Buffalo, near the Red Barn and
John Given had a similar shop near where his family now resides.

Elder Roch and Rev.
Sparrow preached at the little log school house.

Jim Canvery was running
the livery barn. Sam Lung, the club-footed Chinese laundryman had
established himself in the quarters vacated by the outlaw Cummings, and
delighted in making presents of lichi nuts, preserved ginger, tea, silk
handkerchiefs, shawls, and what not to all and sundry of his friends and
patrons.

There was Billy Hunt, the
cowboy liveryman and Houghton the photographer. We must not forget
Houghton. One might paraphrase the saying "See Naples and die" by "Don't
see Houghton's work or you will die." He advertised that his work excelled
any other in the county, and no one could dispute his claim, for there was
no other.

The courthouse was in a
log building, a former dance hall, on the hill about were the present City
Hall stands. The Watkins house in south Buffalo was later built from the
logs taken from this building.

Fred Meyers operated his
restaurant at the same location as at present.

Uncle Steve Farwell had a
notion [store] where Anton Tapken now is.

Daley & Smock had brought
a few loads of furniture overland from Rawlins and had a little place
where the Pioneer Lumber Company office now stands and there began the
furniture business now owned by E. D. Hoshaw.

Mrs. S. E. Webber had a
dry goods store on the site of the filling station.

Page Mr. Volstead

John Fischer had a
brewery just east of the present electric light plant but you will have to
ask some one else what his product was like for I don't know. I can
clearly remember, however, his cordial invitation to "come over and have a
drink of good beer, and not drink those Milwaukee Schlops."

There was a log school
house opposite the Filling Station and among the first teachers were Mrs.
Horace Mann and Aunt Mollie Watkins.

In this school house in
June, 1883 were held the first religious services in Buffalo, conducted by
Chaplain Simpson from Fort McKinney, and soon afterward a Sunday School
was organized, Chaplain Simpson being the first Superintendent, but he was
shortly succeeded by S. A. Sturgis.

Some exceedingly unique
specimens administered to our spiritual welfare at the old school house. I
remember one who ordered the sacramental bread and wine passed to some
buck Indians who had drifted in from curiosity. The Police Gazette
got hold of the incident and we came in for quite a lot of free
advertising.

Munkres and Mather, the
pioneer freighters had both built permanent houses in North Buffalo as had
also W. H. Holland, father of Albert Holland, and the latter was busily
engaged in ranching, cattle-raising, coal mining and ditching. He planted
the tree claims on the Parmelee and Walters ranches, the only ones, I
believe in Johnson County.

For lawyers, we had
Burritt, Elliott, Hinkle and Judge Andrews, familiarly known as "Old
Necessity," because "necessity knows no law."

For Justice of Peace,
there was H. R. Mann, later Register of the Land Office, and now of
Spokane, Washington; and for the care of our bodily ills, we had Dr. J. C.
Watkins, and Dr. Lott, the latter a contract doctor at the Post at that
time, and also Doc. Huson, who later built the stone house this side of
Clearmont.

For news, we had the
Buffalo Echo edited by Hinkle, and later the Big Horn Sentinel
was transplanted from Big Horn by its editor, Becker, and renamed
Bulletin.

I remember a milk man who
was generally accompanied by one or two black-eyed, berry-brown youngsters
as happy as larks, regardless of weather. Is it necessary to tell you that
his name was John Stevenson, or who the black-eyed youngsters were?

Sells Water From Creek

By no means the least
important of our citizens was "Waterman Davis," the huge and powerful man
who supplied the housewives of Buffalo with water, dipping it up from the
creek, in the center of the town with an immense bucket on a long pole to
fill his tank and selling it at 25 cents a barrel. Usually a white flag
means surrender, but in these days in Buffalo, it meant "Bring Water" and
usually, "Be darned quick about it too."

Another huge individual
about town at that time was Arapahoe Brown of unsavory and sinister
reputation, the same man who, when he undertook to beat up Stumbo, a much
smaller man, for some real or fancied grievance had his thumb bitten off,
and of who Stumbo afterwards remarked, "God bless the man who invented the
Winchester rifle. It makes all men equal."

Brown, you will remember,
was later murdered, and his body burned by some of his companions in
crime.

Stumbo was a hunter and
used to bring in elk and deer meat by the wagon load and peddle it to the
citizens. Later he ran a saloon for a short time, known as the Alagazan.

Of business men outside
town there were among others the two Sturgis brothers, known as 12 oz. and
14 oz. in reference to the suspected shortage in the weight of the butter
they sold. Also as "Bible Back" and "Buttermilk." Bible Back, his name
implied, was a pillar of the church and superintendent of the Sunday
School, while "Buttermilk" would have naught to do with such things.

G. E. A. Moeller who
resided on his ranch on French Creek and sold his produce to the post and
the town was a "pillar" also and later removing to Buffalo became
identified with many of the town's activities and particularly with the
telegraph business.

Then there was Proctor,
telegraph operator at the Post who later came to Buffalo and after the
Burlington was built thru Wyoming, successfully operated a telegraph line
on the barbed wire fences.

Buffalo of Early Days

This was Buffalo of the
early days, a straggling one street town of cheap frame and log buildings,
strung along the winding trail, with wide open saloons and gambling houses
at every turn, crowded with hard riding, hard drinking, two fisted men, a
typical town of the far frontier, a man's town.

You have of course
discovered that I have found it impossible to fix definite dates for the
coming of different characters upon this Frontier State, but I have
signally failed in my attempt, if I have not succeeded in giving you a
more or less vivid picture of, first, the gathering of these rugged
frontiersmen at the cantonment on Powder River, following its
establishment in 1876 and later, their drifting to Clear Creek following
the beginning of work on Fort McKinney, and later still, their gradual
settlement in Buffalo, attracted by the trade with the soldiers, and the
settlers who were just beginning to come in, so that by the time the post
was completed and the troops transferred in 1882, the town was firmly
established.